Severus's Secret
by Mimi Bella
Summary: Harry, Ron, and Hermione find Snape's old diary, hoping to piece together what happened in the past to make Snape hate Harry so much. Snape/Lily/James and possibly, Ron/Hermione, Harry/Hermione
1. Default Chapter

SEVERUS'S SECRET  
  
PROLOGUE  
  
The office door slowly creaked open and three human forms slipped into the dank room.  
  
"Sssh!" the first form hissed, admonishing the others.  
  
"Hermione!" the second snapped back, annoyed. "We have the Marauder's Map; we know where he is! If Snape comes down here, we'll have plenty of time to hide!"  
  
"But Ron, don't you realize that if we're discovered down here, we'll be instantly expelled! It's against the rules to break into a teacher's office!" Hermione shot back.  
  
"Shut up both of you!" a third voice chimed in. "We'll get this over with much sooner if you both stop arguing. Lumos!" he exclaimed, revealing his green eyes, round black spectacles, and zigzag scar, just barely hidden by a shock of black hair.  
  
He approached an overstuffed bookshelf and began to peruse the titles, looking for something. Hermione joined him, reading many of them out loud.  
  
"Starkadder's Guide to Advanced Potion;, Binding, Breaking, and Truth- telling…these are just books of spells and potions, Harry. He wouldn't keep it here," she said authoritatively.  
  
"Well then where would it be, Hermione?" Ron demanded.  
  
"Naturally, somewhere he wouldn't want people looking," she replied.  
  
"Well, that's obvious!" Harry exclaimed, annoyed, as he began to open drawers in the desk. "Where would Severus Snape keep a diary?" Harry asked himself quietly.  
  
"I'm sure he'd put a charm or spell on it to make sure no one else could read it," Hermione said knowingly.  
  
"Would it look something like this?" Ron asked, pulling a thick blue notebook out of chest on a shelf.  
  
"What's that?" Harry asked.  
  
"Take a look for yourself," Ron replied, handing the book to Harry, who read the first page.  
  
DIARY OF SEVERUS SNAPE,  
  
HOGWARTS SCHOOL  
  
"This is it! This is Snape's diary from when he was at school with my parents!" Harry exclaimed triumphantly. "Now, I can finally figure out just what happened all those years go and find out why Snape hates me so much!" 


	2. The Discovery

CHAPTER ONE  
  
Severus Snape, a seventh year student at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, ran trippingly down the corridor, holding a small book out in front of him as he went.  
  
"Lily!" he called. "Lily!"  
  
A lithe redhead in the group of students in front of Severus turned around and faced him.  
  
"Severus?" she asked, puzzled.  
  
The greasy-haired, awkward seventeen-year-old stumbled toward her. She tossed her wavy red hair over her shoulder and raised an eyebrow.  
  
"What is it, Severus?" she prompted.  
  
"Um, you—you dropped this," Severus stammered, holding the small book toward Lily.  
  
"Oh!" she exclaimed. "My datebook! Thank you, Severus!" she smiled at him, then turned back and joined her group of friends, which included James Potter, Remus Lupin, and Sirius Black, all of whom exchanged suspicious glances with Severus.  
  
"Certainly," Severus said softly, his eyes still on Lily as she laughed and talked vivaciously with her friends.  
  
Later that day, Severus retreated to the refuge of his room in Slytherin House. Tossing his books down on his bed, Severus made sure he was alone before reaching under the mattress to retrieve a large blue notebook. It was the book given to him by Headmaster Albus Dumbledore six years earlier. Dumbledore had taken a special interest in the young Severus, who had few, if any, friends at Hogwarts.  
  
"A journal, Severus," Dumbledore had said when he gave him the book. "For your thoughts, your aspirations. Write them down here."  
  
Dumbledore knew Severus had trouble making friends and getting socially involved like the other students. He thought that perhaps Severus could find solace in a journal. And so he made a ritual of writing in his diary. And every time the pages ran out, Severus would find, the next morning, 20 new pages would have appeared. For seven years, Severus poured his heart into his diary, filling it with every thought, every anxiety, every wish that he couldn't and wouldn't reveal to another living soul. And today, he had something new to add. Quickly, he found a quill and some ink and began to write.  
  
Dear Diary,  
  
I have never before spoken of love on these pages, and I donot know if I am in love, but I do know that I have never felt this way before about another person. Her name is Lily Evans, and I believe I have loved her since I first saw her as she came off the Hogwarts Ezpress six years ago. Of course, I did not know that then. But I do now.  
  
I always watch her in class, in the corridor, in the Great Hall. She is in Gryffindor, but that changes nothing about the way I feel about her. Unlike many of her friends, she has always been very kind to me and talked to me when no one else would. Once, my school satchel broke open in the corridor, and while her friends stood around and laughed, Lily helped me gather my things together. She has a compassionate and loving nature, which is why I can't understand why she runs about with those gits Potter and Black and Lupin. They nearly killed me once and don't seem to care. Always getting away with things because Dumbledore likes them better than other students. But Lily isn't like them, not in that way.  
  
I have decided I will tell her how I feel. Maybe if she knows that I love her, she'll stop going with that lousy James Potter. Everyone says they are together, but we'll see how things are when I talk to Lily.  
  
Severus  
  
* * * * * *  
  
Harry closed the book and looked up at Ron and Hermione. He wasn't sure if he wanted to know what had happened with his parents at Hogwarts. He couldn't imagine that, as Snape's diary described this incident, they were just two years older than Harry and his friends. But still, he had a gnawing curiosity he had to satisfy.  
  
Harry, Ron, and Hermione, all of them 15 years old, had just begun their fifth year at Hogwarts. The three were best friends, so it was normal that they were all three involved in finding out more about Harry's past.  
  
Hermione glanced out the window.  
  
"It's getting light outside. Perhaps we should go," she suggested. They had been in Snape's office all night, reading Snape's diary. The account of his final year as a student at Hogwarts took up at least half of the book, but the first half mostly bored them. Snape complained about how idiotic the other students at Hogwarts were, and how he couldn't wait to leave and get out into the real wizarding world. He thought that most of his teachers were dull prats afraid to really teach him about the Dark Arts, which he longed for more than anything else. But beginning his seventh year at Hogwarts, Severus Snape's attentions turned mostly to Lily Evans.  
  
"Yes, we should go," Harry suggested.  
  
"Should we take the diary?" Ron asked.  
  
Harry looked at him pensively.  
  
"Does Snape still write in it?" he said, flipping through the pages, searching for a recent entry. But strangely, the dates of the diary ended during Snape's final year at Hogwarts.  
  
"I don't think he'll miss it," Ron said, grabbing the diary. "He just had it in this chest here," he indicated the empty wooden box. "Didn't even bother to put a protective charm on it or anything!"  
  
"Maybe he wants to forget about it," said Hermione.  
  
"Well, then let's take it!" Ron said, putting the notebook under his shirt.  
  
Suddenly, the doorknob began to turn. Harry glanced at the Marauder's Map, and to his horror, he saw a black dot marked SNAPE standing just on the other side of the door to the room containing the three dots labeled HARRY, RON, and HERMIONE.  
  
"Quick!" Harry hissed, pulling out the Invisibility Cloak. "Get under here!" Ron and Hermione hurried toward Harry and the three of them disappeared under James Potter's cloak just as Snape opened the door.  
  
A grown-up version of the greasy-haired kind angled into the room, his eyes narrowing in suspicion. It was still before 6 o'clock in the morning, but Snape liked to get some work done in the early hours. He sensed someone had invaded his office and quickly began to check to make sure things were still in order. He hastily opened his prized cabinet to make sure his essential potions were all accounted for, and, finding them all present, let out a small sigh of relief.  
  
Meanwhile, Harry, Ron, and Hermione crouched uncomfortably together under the cloak. Their discomfort was compounded by the feeling that they were spying on Snape, as well as the fear that he would soon discover them.  
  
Ron began to gesture toward the door, which Snape had left open. Hermione vehemently shook her had in opposition, but Harry just shrugged. It was worth a try, he supposed. Besides, he didn't want to hang around to witness Snape's private moments. Hermione rolled her eyes and almost said something to protest, but finally assented.  
  
Slowly, the three of them edged toward the door, attempting to make as little noise as possible as Snape furiously searched the remainder of his office for missing possessions. It was not easy to do, considering the cloak now had to cover three fifteen-year-olds. But finally, they crept out into the corridor, and once they turned the corner, Harry slipped off the cloak, and they made a run for Gryffindor Tower.  
  
Back in his office, Snape noticed something that was not his, lying on the floor. To him, it looked like nothing more than a piece of parchment. But Snape had seen this piece of parchment before, and he knew who it belonged to.  
  
"Potter," he sneered. 


	3. The Past Unlocked

CHAPTER TWO  
  
Harry, Ron, and Hermione raced up the stairs, shouted the password ("Lemon custard!") at the fat lady, and then found themselves in the safety of the Gryffindor Common Room. It was a Saturday, and many students wouldn't be awake for at least another hour, leaving the three of them some time to read through the diary.  
  
Ron pulled the notebook from under his shirt and set it down on a table. Then the three friends just stared at it.  
  
"Maybe I should read it first. By myself. In case he says something about my mother that I don't want you two to hear," Harry suggested.  
  
Ron and Hermione looked at each other and shrugged. "Fair enough," Ron said.  
  
"Yes," Hermione rejoined. "It is your mother after all. Though we expect you to tell us everything else that's appropriate!"  
  
"Right," Harry nodded. "I'll find out just what my mother did to make Snape hate me so much."  
  
"Did, or didn't do," Ron said playfully, punching Harry in the arm.  
  
"Hey!" Harry exclaimed. "That's my mum you're talking about!" Harry had never really known his parents, but he knew there were just some things you didn't say about someone's mother.  
  
Ron and Hermione found something else to read and installed themselves across the Common Room from Harry as he opened Snape's diary.  
  
But to his horror, he was greeted by nothing more than a book of empty pages.  
  
"What?" he exclaimed. "No!"  
  
"What is it?" Hermione asked, walking hastily to Harry.  
  
"All the pages are blank!" he cried out.  
  
"Crikey!" Ron exhaled. "But they had stuff written on them before, didn't they?"  
  
"Yeah, they did," Harry said, in shock, as he flipped once more through the pages, hoping he had just been mistaken. But all of the pages were entirely white. Even the title page was blank. Nothing remained to link this diary to Snape.  
  
"Are you sure you grabbed the right book, Ron?" Hermione wondered. "It could have gotten mixed up with all the others lying around in his office!"  
  
"Yeah, that's the book we were looking at, I'm sure," Ron assured her.  
  
"Snape must have charmed it somehow," Harry insisted. "Something to keep the ink from appearing."  
  
Ron and Harry looked at Hermione. She was as good as a spellbook, anyway. Hermione sighed.  
  
"Well, I suppose he could have written in invisible ink. That would just take an Aparecium spell. It's simple enough to—"  
  
But Hermione didn't get the chance to finish her sentence, as a group of over-eager first years burst from the dormitories en route to breakfast in the Great Hall. It was the first weekend of the school year, and the novelty of living in an enchanted castle still hadn't worn off on them. Nor on any of the other students, certainly. But still, Harry took care to conceal the journal from the other students. He didn't need any more questions or suspicions than there already were..  
  
"Harry, coming to breakfast?" Dennis Creevey, a diminutive second year who, much like his older brother Colin, idolized Harry, demanded exuberantly.  
  
"Um, yeah, Dennis, in a minute," he said, almost indifferently. "I think I should put this upstairs," he said to Ron and Hermione, who nodded and waited for him as he ran up to his dormitory.  
  
In the Great Hall, Ron, Hermione, and Harry sat together at the Gryffindor table, hoping to figure out a way to read the journal. But every time Harry looked up, Snape was staring at him from across the room, the same look of contempt as always on his face. Harry pretended like he hadn't seen him, but all throughout the meals, he could feel Snape's eyes boring into him.  
  
After the students had finished breakfast, Dumbledore tapped on his water glass to signal silence, and a hush fell over the hall. Dumbledore stood up.  
  
"I would like to welcome all of you to the first weekend of the school year, and express the staff's happiness to have all of you here with us this year. This promises to be a most spectacular year for Hogwarts," Dumbledore said in introduction. "Of course, we cannot forget those who are no longer with us." Dumbledore's gaze fell upon Hufflepuff house, whose loss of Cedric Diggory was most painful. "We shall remember Cedric Diggory for his bravery, his compassion, and his concern for his fellow Hogwarts students."  
  
Resounding applause originated in the Hufflepuff table and soon spread to all the others. A resolute look came across Harry's face, as Dumbledore's gaze turned to the Gryffindor table.  
  
"And we must not, of course, forget the bravery of one who is still with us. One who showed not only his ingenuity but also his selflessness in competing in the Triwizard Tournament," Dumbledore said, a twinkle in his eye. He could sense that Harry disliked being singled out this way, but still knew that the boy was indeed special. "Now, it is my pleasure to introduce Professor McGonagall, who will give us a word about what's to be of Quidditch this year."  
  
Applause once more rang out in the Hall. After a whole year without it, the Hogwarts students were ready to see some more Quidditch matches.  
  
"Thank you, Headmaster," McGonagall said as she stood up. "This year, I am happy to report that Quidditch will return to Hogwarts, after it was absent for a year in order to accommodate the Triwizard Tournament. New captains have been appointed to replace those who have graduated or…left us under other circumstances, and practices will begin this very week!" More applause. "And, I am happy to announce that the first Quidditch match of the new school year will take place two weeks from today, between Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff!"  
  
The Great Hall was positively bursting with applause, but Harry breathed a huge sigh of relief. At least he didn't have to worry about getting ready for a Quidditch match for another three weeks.  
  
As the students filed out of the Great Hall, Angelina Johnson, a Gryffindor chaser, stopped Harry in the corridor.  
  
"Hey Potter," she said. "You don't have any problem with me taking over for Wood as captain, do you?"  
  
"No, Angelina, not at all," he said. He was sure she was just as capable as Oliver Wood at leading the team. She only hoped she wouldn't force them to practice for three hours a day, as Wood had made them do the last time there was an important match.  
  
"Ravenclaw playing Hufflepuff means that our first match will be against Slytherin," she told him, "And that means we have to be ready for anything they try to pull on us. Our first practice is tomorrow, after breakfast, down at the Quidditch pitch. And we'll have to find us a goalkeeper to replace Wood, do you have any ideas?"  
  
Harry shook his head. "No."  
  
Angelina nodded thoughtfully to herself.  
  
"Right, I'll keep my eyes open. In the mean time, if you see any of those Weasleys, you tell them about practice, alright?"  
  
"Sure," Harry said. Angelina nodded again and joined her friends as they walked away. Harry set off to find Ron and Hermione, in the hope that they might be able to break the charm on Snape's journal.  
  
"Hello, Harry," a girl's voice said from behind Harry. He spun around and was greeted by Cho Chang, the very pretty Ravenclaw seeker, on whom Harry just happened to have a bit of a crush.  
  
"Oh! Um, hello Cho, how are you?" he said nervously.  
  
"I'm doing well," she said, "considering…" she trailed off, but Harry knew she was thinking about Cedric. "Look, I didn't get the chance to talk to you before the end of school last year, but I just wanted to tell you that I thought what you did at the Triwizard Tournament was very brave, and I really appreciate it." There was such a look of sadness in her eyes that Harry wanted nothing more than to embrace her, but for some reason, he held off.  
  
"Well, I only did what I thought was right. It was what Cedric would have done," he said finally.  
  
"Yes," Cho nodded, her eyes glistening. They stood in silence for a moment. "Well, you better get back. And I have Quidditch practice now," she said to break the awkwardness.  
  
"Yes, perhaps I should. Good luck in the match, Cho," he said.  
  
"Thank you, Harry," she said as she set off for Ravenclaw. Harry sighed deeply and stood still for a moment, watching her go.  
  
"Ahem!" someone loudly cleared her throat. Ron and Hermione were standing opposite him, eyebrows raised.  
  
"Had a good chat, I hope?" Ron asked wickedly. Harry blushed.  
  
"Yes, I'm sure he did," Hermione said quickly and started off ahead of them. "Are you two coming?"  
  
"Yeah, 'course we are," said Ron.  
  
"Well hurry up!" she prompted impatiently.  
  
"What's gotten into her?" Harry asked, puzzled. Ron rolled his eyes.  
  
"Isn't it obvious?" Ron asked. Harry was still confused.  
  
"No," he said softly, but Ron was already too far ahead of him to hear. 


End file.
